Rich Weighs In on the Dallas Cowboys’ Chances to Win the NFC East This Season

The Dallas Cowboys have a mantra, a quarterback who refuses to apologize for it, and a division that Rich thinks is wide open. His advice for the rest of the season is one word: aggressive.

Dallas is 2-2 and getting ready for a winless Tampa Bay team playing without Baker Mayfield. Rich loves saying "Gotti," the way the Cowboys' acronym sounds when spoken aloud, partly because it reminds him of his old home run call from SportsCenter. Having grown up in the New York area, he and Mike also have their own associations with the word.

The offense that inspired it has been uneven. Rich said it first got "buried underneath the stadium" in New Jersey. Then last week in Houston, it showed up in the second half. CeeDee Lamb was targeted 21 times, "21 Deion Sanders times," and had a career day, all without George Pickens scoring a touchdown yet. Rich also said Javonte Williams is even better this year than last.

The bigger story was a decision. In Week 3, the head coach said the team did not want to force a touchdown throw with overtime available if nothing was immediately open. That led to a whole to-do heading into Houston, where Dallas was aggressive and won. Instead of kicking a field goal to tie, the Cowboys went for the end zone, which helps, Rich said, "when CeeDee Lamb is getting wide-ass open every single time."

Then Rich played the exchange of the week. Clarence Hill, a frequent guest of the show, pressed Dak Prescott on whether the team had lived up to the acronym yet. Prescott parried, another reporter asked whether he regretted the mantra, and Prescott answered that one instead.

"I got no regrets," Prescott said. "We're what? Four games in. I think we can get better. Am I complacent with what we've done? Absolutely not. Do I think what we've done is enough? Absolutely not. Do I still believe that that's who we are and that's who we're going to be? Damn right."

"I like this version of Dak," Rich said. "I like this version of Dak a lot."

That, Rich argued, is the whole point. If you believe that is who you are, then it is fourth and inches in Week 1 on the opening drive, you go for it. If you get one shot at the end zone in Rio with seconds to go, you go for it. If you are feeling it with Lamb in Houston and have a field goal in your back pocket, you go for it. "And they did and they came out with a win," Rich said. "I like it." He did note that Hill was not thrilled his own question went unanswered, and that Prescott ended up asking and answering his own questions, with two different answers about what the team is and what it will be.

This week, Rich thinks the setup is simple. The Cowboys face a backup quarterback and a team that has not won yet. "They should destroy Tampa," he said, with all due respect to a Bucs team that is talented in spots and has "a coach flat out on the hot seat. Let's not lie."

The defense, meanwhile, has more talent with Joey Porter Jr. now in Dallas, and the man the crew calls "the old man with money" said on his Tuesday appearance on 105.3 The Fan that he might not be done adding.

"I'm open. We're open," he said in the sound Rich played. "We've got a trade deadline coming up when you can do some things." He added that he had said at the start of training camp that he was willing to make moves that lean more toward today than three years from now.

Rich's prescription followed. "Aggressive Cowboys is the way through this year," he told TJ. "Aggressive on offense, aggressive on the play calling, aggressive on the talent acquisition, and aggressive on defense. That's it. Do not take the pedal off."

The reason is the division. "The NFC East, in my estimation, is open," Rich said. "It's open for business." The Eagles do not look anything like the team from their championship season, even at 2-2, and Lane Johnson has retired. The Giants are 3-1 with the Jameis Winston experience. And the Commanders are 1-3, with their only healthy quarterback being, in Rich's words, "their big fat Greek touchdown thrower from Rutgers."